Monthly Archive for September, 2012

: September, 2012

Grumman Northrop E-2 Hawkeye walkaround and scimitar propellers The Hawkeye is a workhorse carrying a crew of five and some of the world’s most advanced avionics — it is also the one of the heaviest carrier borne aircraft in the U.S. Navy, and likely in the world as well. William Ridge (see credits, below) notes that […]…

Supersonic target — Ryan’s BQM34F Firebee II Ryan developed the Firebee II as a supersonic drones which could be flown as missile targets and carried electronics to imitate radar signatures as well as rate missile scores. Catapulted from a rail or dropped from a mothership it could fly as low as 50 feet (15.2m) and be […]…

Stoof! — Grumman’s S-2 Tracker Formerly known as the S2F — the nickname came from S2F for “Stoof “— Grumman’s Tracker was the Navy’s first platform which served as a submarine detection and weapons platform similtaneously. In other words, the Navy’s first complete antisubmarine warfare (ASW) aircraft. Carrying a crew of four with two Wright R-1820 nine […]…

Shuttle Endeavour now at LAX 21 September 2012 marked Space Shuttle Endeavour last flight and final landing. What a retirement curtain call it was — touring much of California prior to landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Like many hard workers, this marks Endeavour’s retirement from NASA, as well as flight, but only to begin service […]…

X-48B Blended Wing Body — future of flight? Jack Northrop sought to eliminate significant drag by eliminating the fuselage with the flying wing design — now seen in the Rockwell B-1 Lancer. Before him, Vincent Burnelli’s lifting body designs sought to make aircraft safer by enlarging the fuselage into a flying body with wings and tail […]…

Ryan Firebee — this drone could fly as a target, fly photo recce or attack Suspended in the Air Force Armament Museum is a Ryan Firebee. The information placard is sparse regarding this Firebee, indicating it is a target drone (BQM-34) though it is obviously an attack drone (AQM-34) with its two large bombs mounted under wing — yet […]…

Oblique Wing — cutting edge design with the scissor wing with the AD-1 Swept wing designs allow aircraft to fly at high subsonic and transonic speeds though at the cost of less efficient flight at slower airspeeds. Variable sweep allowed for revolutionary aircraft like the Grumman F-111, F-14 and Rockwell B-1 as well as the […]…

Better than Timex watches — the Voyagers “Takes a licking and keeps on ticking” understates what the two Voyager interstellar travelers continue to accomplish. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 each survived the shock of their individual launches in 1977 and simply continue to operate to this day. Think of it, each machine switched on over […]…

The early B-24 known as “Ol 927″ This Consolidated B-24A Liberator — known as “Ol 927″ — can be seen in the Cavanaugh Flight Museum and is especially nice to see since it is an early version, prior to models which were equipped with powered nose gun turrets. It is also in flying condition and regularly is taken to […]…

Strawberry Bitch — Consolidated B-24D Liberator which served in North Africa during WW II This B-24 has nickname which carries a notable cachet which has been well described in this article by Daniel P Rice, a pilot of the aircraft. Here is the fact sheet which has 16 photos from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force 🙂…